PESHAWAR: The prime suspect in the murder of Abbottabad-based doctor Dr Warda Mushtaq was killed during a police encounter, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police confirmed on Sunday.
According to the K-P police chief, the main accused, identified as Shamrez, was shot dead in an exchange of fire with law enforcement officials. He said the suspect had been absconding since the killing, while police teams continued efforts to trace and arrest all those involved. Other suspects nominated in the case had already been taken into custody earlier.
Earlier, Abbottabad District Police Officer Haroon Rasheed told a press conference that Dr Warda had handed over 67 tolas of gold to her friend Rida for safekeeping around two years ago. A dispute reportedly arose when Dr Warda asked for the return of the gold, after which she was allegedly abducted and later murdered.
The DPO said investigations revealed that Dr Warda was killed on the same day she was abducted. The post-mortem report confirmed that her neck bone was fractured, with strangulation and suffocation identified as the cause of death. Evidence of torture was also found on her body.
Police later arrested Wahid, the husband of the female suspect, and added sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act to the case against the arrested accused.
Dr Warda Mushtaq, who served at the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Abbottabad, had gone missing earlier this month. Her body was recovered on December 4 from a forest area on the identification of suspects already in custody.
Following her disappearance, Dr Warda’s father filed a complaint at the Cantonment police station. Investigators found that she had entrusted 67 tolas of gold to her friend Rida in 2023. The dispute resurfaced when she demanded its return.
According to police, on December 4, 2025, Rida contacted Dr Warda at the DHQ Hospital and took her away under the pretext of returning the gold. She allegedly drove the doctor to an under-construction house near Jadoon Plaza on Rehman Street, where accomplices — including Shamrez and his brother Pervez — were present. Rida then left the victim there and returned home.
Police reviewed CCTV footage, call data records and other technical evidence, questioned more than 35 individuals and subsequently arrested Rida, Nadeem Zaib and Pervez. During interrogation, the suspects confessed to kidnapping and killing Dr Warda and burying her body in a pit in the Lari Banota forest. The body was later recovered and sent for post-mortem examination.
Investigators also seized the vehicle used in the crime, along with stamp papers and cheques linked to the gold dispute.
